Photos of the day - Montreal 1974

More Montreal nostalgia madness today. This one is from the Amateur Road Race in the 1974 worlds.

Poland was an Amateur road racing powerhouse in the 70's, and they dominated this championship..the photo shows three of them at the front of the train.

Janusz Kowalski (2nd in line) was the winner, and defending '73 champion Ryzard Szurkowski (4th in line) was 2nd.

The Polish team debuted 'screwed-and-glued' Alan aluminium framesets in Montreal that year.... they were considered radical exotic technology back then.

Those Alan's were noodles to ride. Light, comfortable, and springy soft. They were used a lot for cyclocross back in the '80's. Alan supplied the Teka pro team in Spain, and their riders rode them for many years.

Not a sprinters bike you say? Guess again. Jackrabbit fast Flandrien and W.S.C. Torhout alum Noel DeJonckheere used to win sprints in the Vuelta on Alan's. Yes, the same DeJonckheere who ran the Cycling USA U23 program in Izegem (mentoring Farrar and Van Garderen among others) and is now operations manager for team BMC.

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Read with some amusement the other day that article about the advent of the $10,000+ road bike. 'Halo bikes' they call them.

Halo Bikes. Hallelujah, let the pigeons loose.

Ten to twelve grand for a race bike? Utterly ridiculous. On oh, so many levels.

It got me shaking my thick-mick head, and thinking longingly back to the good ol' days. The mid '70's, when road racing bicycles were all hand brazed, lugged steel tubing. Your wheel choice? Pick 28, 32 or 36 spokes. Grouppo? Either Campagnolo Nuovo Record, Super Record or maybe Shimano DuraAce. There were a lot of bicycle company 'brands' (e.g. frame designers, brazers and assemblers), but the basic ingredients were all about the same really. Funny thing was, guys still rode 30 mph on them, no problem. In fact, I think they could handle them a heckuva lot better in a peloton too.

And the best stuff, and by that I mean the bikes and technologies used by top professionals - even by win…

Welcome to the Wielercafe! This blog is the new home of my old blog, 'Flandria Cafe'.

After riding Race the Ras in Ireland back in 2014, my professional and personal life went into warp drive, leaving little time for blogging. Master's racing had to be shelved. The idea of commentary on pro cycling felt like another disconnected, inadequately informed voice weighing in. Figured I'd rather spend my spare time riding. Frankly, I ran out of things to say and just lost interest, so I took a break for awhile. Long enough for the Flandria Cafe registration to expire and someone else to snag it (!)

Since 2014, I've been flattered to have many friends and blog followers reach out and tell me they missed the blog - particularly the old-school cycling history stuff, for which my passion is still alive. In addition, some personal life changes, and some great cycling adventures with many friends who share our cycling passion have rekindled m…

Okay, so it's Thursday night, and we're all in a crowded hotel bar in Clonakilty. And I mean all of us. The real Ras is in the same hotel tonight.

There's a quite mighty craic. Alan bumps into Emma O'Reilly and gets caught up after many years, a world away from Boulder, Colorado. Paul chats with former Irish Olympian Seamus Downey, his wife, and their friends. Seamus tonight is the proud father of An Post rider Sean Downey, who's kicking ass and taking names in the Ras this year as the top Irish rider, sitting 6th on GC. They're reminiscing with anecdotes and memories of Paul's late dad J.J. Lots of the Race the Ras guys are here too, all having a great time. I'm sitting with Aaron and Brian McCormack, and we're enjoying that ever-so-perilous 'just one I promise' after dinner pint.

Slouching at stools at a high bar table next to us is a group of skinny, tan, clean cut and identically
tracksuited 20-somethings. Not a Guinness in s…

I started bicycle racing New England roads way back in 1976 when shorts were wool, helmets leather and $250 could snag that white Peugeot PX10 that was all you needed to jump in the pack with the best.
A half-decent sprint brought modest amateur success, earned me the nickname “Fast Eddy” and fueled an indelible cycling obsession - launching a lifetime in roles orbiting in and around cycling.
Top category amateur racer, founding member of New England’s most prestigious cycling club, product marketing manager for global cycling brands, European bike-biz veteran, creator and owner of one the coolest road-bike shops ever, occasional drinking partner of professional cycling champions.
At age 57 in my spare time I’m still an avid cyclosportive and cycling travel adventurer, and not mellowing with age.
A passionate cycling fan, I've collected just enough experiences to be dangerous. Warning for the politically correct: My world view on cycling and life is unapolgetically old-school, euro-centric, opinionated, and as hard-hitting Boston-Irish as a Dropkick Murphy’s soundtrack.